CPD-ready?..Easy!™

To make CPD as painless and rewarding as possible, a little planning is helpful.

 

The College is focused on helping members adopt the ‘new’ system.

What will I have to do?[1],[2]

Pharmacists will be required to engage in CPD activities that have an aggregate value of CPD credits equal to or greater than the minimum determined by the Board.

 

(It is proposed that the CPD credit requirements be 40 credits per annum, phased in as follows:

·         20 CPD credits for the period 1 July 2010 to 30 September 2011

·         30 CPD credits for the period  1 October 2011 to 30 September 2012

·         40 CPD credits for the period 1 October 2012 to 30 September 2013

Do all CPD activities earn the same number of credits?

No. We expect that the Board will adopt the system currently in use where activities are divided into three (3) groups:

Group 1: Information accessed without assessment

Descriptor: Didactic presentations and activities with little or no attendee interaction.

Examples: Attend or listen to CE presentations, attend conference, attend seminar, journal reading.

CPD credits:  One credit per hour of activity.

 

Group 2: Knowledge or skills improved with assessment

Descriptor: Activities where the participant’s acquisition of knowledge/skills can be demonstrated through successful completion of some form of assessment.  The activities provide for the measurement of and feedback on a participant’s achievement while undertaking a particular activity.

Examples: Undertake assessment e.g. multiple choice questions related to CE events or journal reading (formal or self-assessment).  Gain some form of credentialing by assessment/examination, undertake formal post graduate courses, participate in interactive workshop, undertake case study (e.g. NPS), prepare for external review (e.g. ACHS, QCPP).

CPD credits: Two credits per hour of activity.

 

Group 3: Quality or practice improvement facilitated

Descriptor: Activities where an assessment of existing practice (as an individual or within a pharmacy practice) and the needs and barriers to changes in this practice is undertaken prior to the development of a particular activity.  As a result, the activity addresses identified learning needs with a reflection post activity to evaluate practice change or outcomes resulting from the activity. Such an activity most likely will extend over a number of weeks or months.

Examples: Give a conference presentation (paper or poster) that has changed practice or will promote practice change, have a paper published in peer reviewed journal demonstrating practice change and outcomes following the implementation of a change in practice, provide the lead in work place quality or practice improvement activities through an activity such as a drug utilisation review, active involvement in special interest group leading to demonstrated practice change.

CPD credits: Three credits per hour of activity.

Can all CPD credits come from Group 1 activities?

No. At present, Group 1 activities can account for not more than 50% of a year’s credits. This may change in the future depending on the guidelines issued by the Board.

What sort of activities will be suitable?

To be eligible for CPD credits an activity must be:

§  Made up of education programs, seminars, workshops, lectures, conferences, discussion groups, multimedia or website based programs, or the research and preparation of articles published in pharmacy publications or such other publications approved by the Board, or review of professional journals, or any combination of two or more of the above, or self-directed learning consistent with maintenance of competence;

§  of significant intellectual or practical content and must deal primarily with matters directly related to the practice of pharmacy;

§   conducted by persons who are qualified by practical or academic experience in the material covered (other than for self-directed learning)

§  be relevant to the scope of the registered pharmacist’s role as a provider of pharmacy services and to the practice of pharmacy¹

How can I tell if an activity is suitable?

The Australian Pharmacy Council (APC) has been given the responsibility of authorising ‘CPD providers’ to accredit CPD activities (both their own products and for third parties such as pharma companies, wholesalers etc).

If an activity is badged with the APC logo (probably with the name of the accrediting organisation as well) then you can be certain that the activity meets the requirements of the Board (see below).

Educational activity accredited by (College/PGA/PSA)

Do CPD activities have to be accredited?

The present Board guidelines are that, initially, there will not be a requirement for a percentage of CPD credits to be made up of accredited activities.

This means that, for the present, College activities or activities endorsed by the College should meet the requirements of the Board.

Will the College be authorised to accredit CPD activities after 1 July 2010

The College is currently preparing its application for authorisation for consideration by the Australian Pharmacy Council and we anticipate be authorised by 1 July 2010.

What if an activity is not accredited?

Where an activity has not been accredited, this means that the responsibility of deciding whether it meets the criteria listed above rests with you.

 

In deciding this you will need to consider:

1.       Is the content primarily directly related to the practice of pharmacy (FOR YOU)?

2.       Is it relevant to your scope of practice?

3.       Is it delivered by suitable persons (who need not be pharmacists)? They do need to be qualified in the area of instruction.

4.       Is it of an appropriate standard or level?

 

There will be non-accredited material that will be suitable.

What sort of activities will the college accredit?

The College was established to deliver education (made up of knowledge and skills) in both pharmacy practice and pharmacy management.

 

This makes us unique.

 

The College will accredit activities in both pharmacy practice and pharmacy management. For you, this means that most of your immediate needs will be available through the College.

Pharmacy practice will include:

§  Patient care generally including counselling etc

§  Clinical knowledge (3 self-study units already available to members)

Pharmacy management will include:

§  Financial management

§  Staff and people management

§  Marketing

§  Leadership and personal development

§  Business transformation

§  Business re-engineering (e.g. changing workflow processes)

Where can I access these activities?

The usual methods of delivering CPD will almost certainly continue. These currently include:

Articles in pharmacy journals e.g. AJP, Australian Pharmacist, Pharmacy News and Retail Pharmacy.

AND, THE INTEGRATION OF THE TWO. I.E. ENABLING BEST PRACTICE BY IMPROVING MANAGEMENT.

Where Do I Start?

Easy-Step 1 - You need a structure

It is possible, though not advisable, for you to engage in CPD activities in a random way. You can just read and be assessed on articles that might be available, you might go to an occasional conference or seminar and you might hope that these will combine to meet the necessary number of CPD credits.

If you follow this path you run the risk of engaging in CPD that is irrelevant to you as a pharmacist and, consequently of no value in improving your practice or your chances of promotion. It is also fairly certain that this lack of relevance will mean that engaging in CPD will become an onerous task. As CPD participation will be a pre-requisite for registration you may as well do your best to make it as relevant and enjoyable as possible.

 

On the basis that the PSA Competency Standards are more than likely to be accepted by the National Pharmacy Board, most pharmacists will look to those Competency Standards to provide the structure for their CPD activities.

 

The Competency Standards are arranged into 8 functional areas as follows:

1.       Practise pharmacy in a professional and ethical manner

2.       Manage work issues and interpersonal relationships in pharmacy practice

3.       Promote and contribute to optimal use of medicines

4.       Dispense medicines

5.       Prepare pharmaceutical products

6.       Provide primary health care

7.       Provide medicines and health information and education

8.       Apply organisational skills and the practice of pharmacy

 

Each functional area is then further broken down into a number of elements and each element has a number of performance criteria against which Competency in the element might be measured.

 

Figure 1 shows an example. The Competency Standards document shows an example of how all functional area, units, elements and performance criteria might be mapped to a job description for a pharmacists employed to provide dispensing services in the community pharmacy.

The College will help with the structure

All CPD activities delivered or endorsed by the College will identify the Competency Standards functional areas, units and elements that are addressed.

The college will make available to members a series of 'Suggested CPD Plans’[3]. These will suggest an overarching structure that might be suited to:

§  differing roles within community pharmacy

§  differing management or ownership responsibilities within community pharmacy

§  differing pharmacist age groups

§  differing practice locations

These Suggested CPD Plans will be made available on the College website (progressively in the lead up to July 1, 2010.)

Easy-Step 2: We help you think about what your position entails (Define your role)

For most community pharmacists our role description will be covered by one of a number of broad categories. For example:

1.       A pharmacy proprietor who owns one or more pharmacies but who does not work in a pharmacy on a regular basis

2.       A pharmacy proprietor who owns one or more pharmacies but who does  work in a pharmacy on a regular basis

3.       A pharmacist-in-charge

4.       A pharmacist who role consists mainly of dispensing, patient care incl. counselling etc.

 

These broad categories may be further influenced by a pharmacist’s experience, age, the extent to which they have practised recently and the extent to which they have engaged in CPD in the recent past.

The combination of the above will influence what a pharmacist might need to do; what they should do and what they could do.

Easy-Step 3: We help you match your role-needs to the Competencies

This may NOT be easy for many pharmacists who are not used to thinking in this way, so the College has developed a number of suggested ‘role maps’ for your guidance.

 

THESE ROLE MAPS ARE FOR GUIDANCE ONLY. YOU WILL NEED TO ADJUST THESE TO SUIT YOUR OWN CIRCUMSTANCES

 

Remember that there were eight (8) functional areas in the competencies.

1.       Practise pharmacy in a professional and ethical manner

2.       Manage work issues and interpersonal relationships in pharmacy practice

3.       Promote and contribute to optimal use of medicines

4.       Dispense medicines

5.       Prepare pharmaceutical products

6.       Provide primary health care

7.       Provide medicines and health information and education

8.       Apply organisational skills and the practice of pharmacy

 

The easiest way to map your role to the Competencies is to use a tabular format

Easy Step 4: We provide you with a suggested list of reading, presentations and other activities

We are building our library to include material that is already to hand so that once you have completed Steps 1 to 3 you can go straight to the CPD Members’ section and commence on the activities we feel would be most useful to you.

 

CPD Ready?..Easy!